Has anyone been successful in getting Bluetooth to work with other devices? I’ve been trying to use my Bluetooth speaker with my PowerBook running both Leopard and Tiger but without success. I can get it to pair but can’t figure out how to make it connect. Any ideas?
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PowerBook Bluetooth
- Thread starter SecretSquirrel
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A lot of it has to do with the age of the device you're trying to connect to. For instance, I have a BT loudspeaker that's from 2015. Both my Snow Leopard MBP and my PowerBook struggle to connect and maintain a connection to it. For my PowerBook I use a USB BT adapter that's a bit more modern (the internal BT still works) and that helps a bit. But in general, that speaker of mine is too new for my older hardware to handle.
That said, there are two places to try connecting. In the status bar and inside BT preferences. Which ones have you tried?
Also, with my speaker when I initially add it I have to choose whether I'm using either headphones or a headset. One or the other usually works better, but I never know which one at the time I want to use the speaker with these Macs.
If you do want to continue with the internal route you will want to make sure your PowerBook supports at least Bluetooth 2.0-- so, only the 2005 models (both Early '05 and Late '05 have it). If it's older, you're limited to Bluetooth 1.1 and you'll have an 11/10 chance of running into issues and probably will absolutely have to have an external adapter to have any success.
So while Bluetooth should be backward compatible, that is not always the case in reality.
It just comes down to the Bluetooth host adapter and software and the specific implementation of Bluetooth on the device you want to connect to.
A BT 1.1 host adapter may not work correct with a BT 2.x device because the device may use feature of the BT spec that the host adapter doesn't support and backward compatibility is not implemented in the device or is just broken or buggy.
It just comes down to the Bluetooth host adapter and software and the specific implementation of Bluetooth on the device you want to connect to.
A BT 1.1 host adapter may not work correct with a BT 2.x device because the device may use feature of the BT spec that the host adapter doesn't support and backward compatibility is not implemented in the device or is just broken or buggy.
I’ve tried both.
I thought it was a 2005 model but I’ll have to check… That might be the root of the problem.
I bought a cheap generic modern usb bluetooth adapter. Worked fine with all my old Macs. I think it was Bluetooth 5 actually. So it's worth throwing just a few $ at one or two adapters, and seeing what works.